I’m sure looking at the title of this blog post wondering what I am thinking. As we all know and have been told time and time again (not least by me!) Facebook is huge, it’s obvious and actually quite boring to keep going on about this, however this is what will give them their future power as long as they can hold on to their users!

Firstly lets take a look at Chrome OS. Chrome OS is Google’s web based OS that requires you to install nothing on your machine but simply have an internet connection and this will allow you to use an array of programs from Office to photo editing software. Google is taking a huge gamble with this idea and it may prove to be ahead of it’s time. The idea is a great one, why keep everything on your computer when there is a server somewhere in rural USA that it can be stored until the end of time?

What happens when you don’t have an internet connection? I know you may say it’s very rare that there is no internet connection but I must admit I’m going to have to disagree, I live in Brighton where there is possibly the worst mobile internet is a major UK city, sure if you have access to every major network then you can have great mobile internet but most people don’t have that luxury. This really does limit the effectiveness of Chrome OS and it could be the downfall of the system. There is however a glimmer of hope for them, and this is the introduction of 4G networks. 4G is the evolution from 3G as I’m sure that you guessed, so far it has been rolled out in some major US cities and they are getting fantastic speeds that would make our eyes water, we are talking faster than the average fibre optic broadband here in the UK.

Now doesn’t that sound fantastic. Yes, yes it does and it could prove to be the driving force behind the adoption of the cloud based OS. By now you may be wondering if I am ever going to get to my point about Facebook. Well here we are.

Facebook has a great user base of people that know exactly what to do and how to use it. Ranging from 13 year olds to people in their 70s, people who’s computer knowledge is limited to turning the machine on and typing Facebook into Bing to get to the only place in the webiverse that they feel safe secure and comfortable, this is amazing!

There is growing speculation of Spotify teaming up with Facebook to offer music streaming through the platform, this led me to think that Facebook could eventually become a cloud based OS. Think about it, it’s not that crazy. We all know how to use it and we are all comfortable with it, I know the web designers and all round power users with your Mac Pro’s wont have any interest but think, you are the minority.

Most people like the simplest and most basic OS there is, that is part of the reason for the success of the iPad, could anything be easier? A lot of people spend the majority of their internet time on Facebook, with their Bing integration there is a search engine built in, Spotify beings on demand music, what’s next? This platform really could open up a whole new world of social computing, everything you do can be published straight to your wall and help is only a post away. Facebook could end up being the only place the average user needs to go to.

I think that there is real potential for a Facebook OS and Google are creating a great platform for Facebook to launch from. As long as Facebook learns from the mistakes of Chrome OS then it could be a real hit.

Tell me what you think in the comments below.